Ukraine army retakes town on edge of rebel bastion Donetsk

Ukraine’s army said on Wednesday that it had retaken a town on the outskirts of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk, and intercepted another convoy of vehicles crossing over from Russia.

Government forces said in a statement that they had seized control of Avdiyivka, a town of some 40,000 about a dozen kilometres north of Donetsk, as Kiev tightened its grip around the key insurgent bastion. Meanwhile, fighting rumbled on in the area around the crash site of downed Malaysia Airlines flight 17, with government forces saying they were conducting a ‘mopping up’ operation in the town of Ilovaysk, some 40 kilometres west of the downed jet.

The latest advances come as government troops attempt to push on with an offensive that has seen them reclaim a string of key towns in the past few weeks, and could see them cut alleged supply routes from Russia to rebels camped out in Donetsk.